Prince Harry taken to drink and drugs rehab clinic

Prince Harry was taken to a drugs rehabilitation clinic for a day after Prince Charles discovered he had been regularly smoking cannabis and drinking alcohol, it emerged last night.

The prince, 16 at the time, was confronted last year by Prince Charles, who then arranged a visit to Featherstone Lodge, a detox centre for heroin addicts in Peckham, south London.

Royal sources confirmed that Harry, now 17, had confessed to 'experimenting' with cannabis on several occasions at his father's Highgrove home and drinking to excess at private parties and at a local pub in Wiltshire.

The latest revelations will be highly embarrassing for the royal family and also put a spotlight on how Prince Harry has coped since his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed.

The News of the World quoted one source as saying: 'Since Princess Diana died, there has been a family rule that when Prince Harry is home from school, his father is at home at Highgrove.

'But last summer was different. Prince Harry was getting older, Prince Charles was often away on business in London and Prince William was on his gap year.

'So for the first time Prince Harry found himself occasionally at home alone at Highgrove and was encouraged to have friends round to keep him company. During a period covering June and July 2001, Prince Harry fell in with a bad lot at the Rattlebone Inn. There are so many fights at the Rattlebone Inn. In fact, earlier last year Prince Harry was involved in an incident after a fight broke out over out-of-hours drinking and was barred from the inn for a while.'

The News of the World reports that one of his new friends encouraged him to experiment with cannabis at a private party in Tetbury and on one occasion in the shed at the back of the pub.

It was after a private party at Highgrove that a member of the Royal staff smelled cannabis and alerted Prince Charles. An aide to the Prince of Wales confirmed: 'Although his friends smoked at parties at Highgrove, Harry was mindful only to smoke in private with close friends in the local area.'

Charles is reported to have asked Prince William to suggest to Harry that he should spend some time at the Featherstone clinic to familiarise himself with the dangers of drugs. It was reported that the prince visited the centre for a day as a short, sharp shock and not for treatment.

According to the report, Charles told aides: 'There is no point in hiding the truth. These are the facts - let people make their own judgment.' St James's Palace said: 'This is a serious matter which was resolved within the family and is now closed.'